The Peabody Awards

Audrie & Daisy (Netflix)

It’s a story every parent and teenager needs to watch but dreads to see. After passing out at a party, high school sophomore Audrie Pott is sexually assaulted. With no recollection of the event, Audrie desperately tries to find out what happened as she learns that photos are making the rounds on social media. Cyberbullied, shamed, and socially isolated, Audrie commits suicide. The news of her death spreads and resonates with young women across the country who endured similar experiences. Filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk follow this ripple effect and juxtapose Audrie’s experience with other stories of survivors. Daisy’s story unfolds, through candid interviews with family members and using her own illustrations, to reveal a deeply scarred young woman coping with the aftermath of sexual assault and harassment. Through these women’s stories, we are witness to how social media shaming enacts a secondary and equally, sometimes even more impactful, traumatization of teen rape victims. We also see how ill-equipped—and in some communities, unwilling—the system is to deal with such cases and their perpetrators. For an honest, heartbreaking, and timely tale of sexual assault and social media, and the repercussions it can have on young lives, Audrie & Daisy receives a Peabody Award.